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“This administration recognizes that some oppressive governments seek to target their citizens for grave human rights abuses through the use of information and communications technology,” the official said.

The executive order, which the president will discuss in a speech on Monday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, includes a new category of sanctions. It is aimed at human rights abuses in Syria and Iran as well as companies and individuals that assist the governments there, according to The Washington Post.

Future executive orders could address individuals and companies assisting other governments, a senior official told the Post.

In addition, the president will announce challenge grants to encourage companies to find new ways to use technology to help citizens in other countries, the Post reports.

The president will also outline a new Atrocities Prevention Board and discuss other steps that could improve the nation’s ability to prevent genocide and other mass atrocities from happening in the future, POLITICO’s Playbook reports.

In addition, the president will address critics who say the administration is not doing enough to curb killing in Syria and Sudan, two issues that have drawn much attention from senior leaders at the White House.

Unfortunately, though Pres. Obama did away with many of the illegal abuses of the corrupt and morally-bankrupt Bush-Cheney regime of torture, secret prisons globally, farmed-out torture to other countires, circumvented the US Constitution and US laws with Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, etc, and formally ended their illegal domestic spying and warrantless wiretapping, they still are allowing the FBI, NSA, etc. to issue investigation papers which the public cannot reveal to others or challege in court. The civil liberties corroding Patriot Act and FISA are still abusing Americans while not making America safer.

Democrats most often fail when they act like Republicans like passing NAFTA without employee and environment safeguards.